White Dwarf Wednesday #18

It's April/May 1980.  Bon Scott has been replaced with Brian Johnson in AC/DC, Ronnie James Dio is in for Ozzy in Black Sabbath and a photo of the USS Enterprise has replaced fantasy art on the cover of White Dwarf #18.

This is issue is full of big news.  First off, though in the form of an ad, we see that TSR Hobbies has arrived and is open for business in the UK.  They open their doors on March 31, 1980.  Don Turnbull will be in charge.

The next full page ad is one for Tunnels & Trolls.  Like so much else in this OSR world this ad could run right now and still work.

Ian Livingstone asks "Why do people like playing role-playing games?"  It is interesting because now we are getting more "RPGs" and less "SF/F Games".  American influence I am thinking.

Next up we get a fairly detailed minatures game for Star Trek the Motion Picture. No idea if they got the permission to do this or not, but it is a pretty detailed game (4 pages).  You do need the minis to play, but those were new from Citadel Miniatures,  so easy to get.  The game assumes you are using these, but they also state others can be used.

We have some reviews in Open Box.  A psychic battle game based on the Darkover novels (9/10).  Swordquest from the new Task Force Games gets a 6/10. Dra'k'ne Station from Judges Guild for Traveller gets 8/10.

Albie Foire gives us a very detailed (6 pages, 3 new monsters) mini-adventure for D&D, The Halls of Tizun Thane.  Oddly enough this lists 3-6 players with 6-12 characters.  This is the only adventure I have seen where the assumption is people will be playing more than one character.

Treasure chest gives us some very useful tables on weather conditions by season.  As well as some random NPC generators.

Fiend Factory gives us four also-ran monsters; Mandrake People, Hounds of Kerenos, Phung, and the Couerl.  All have Monstermark ratings and all come from various Sf/F novels.
We also get the top 10 and bottom 5 FF monsters as chosen by the readers.



Top 10
1. Necrophidius
2. Russian Doll Monster
3. Svart
4. Needleman
5. Hook Horror
6. Githyanki
7. Imps
8. Volt
9. Urchin
10. Dahdi

Bottom 5
1. Nas Nas (the worst)
2. Dahdi (both lists)
3. Withra
4. Stinwicodech
5. Pebble Gnome

The Magic Brush is back with mini painting tips.

Finally 6 pages of classifieds and ads.  Ending with a new ad for TSR's Top Secret game.

The type seems denser and the quality of the work seems better than the last couple of issues and I think we are entering another growth period for WD.  Looking forward to the rest of 1980.



BTW here is that T&T ad.  Still works today.

Amazing Adventures

As you know I have recently been turned on to the fantastic Castles & Crusades game by my son.
It is really cool and it really does feel like 1st Ed AD&D.

But does it feel like Gangbusters?

Well my friend Jason Vey aims to find out with his new game out from Troll Lords called Amazing Adventures.
http://www.trolllord.com/cnc/aa_preorder.html

Here is the sales blurb:

Amazing Adventures

Siege Engine Game for the Pulp Era
Product Type/Format & Price: Softcover; 176 pages; $24.99
Written By: Jason Vey
Ordering Info: TLG 7601, ISBN: 978-1-936822-02-7

"Pulp: Hard-boiled detectives, fedora-wearing action heroes, and steampunk gadgeteers rocketing to battle with their jet packs against bloodthirsty Thule cultists of the Third Reich." 


That's when all Hell broke loose. The back window shattered, there was a distinct "ZING!" sound, and the front window followed suit. Kate let out a yelp and jerked the wheel, sending us into a fishtail. I grabbed the door frame and held on for dear life while drawing my Colt 1911. I looked over my shoulder, and sure enough there was that pink Model T. I couldn't see if Frenchie was behind the wheel; too much sun glare off the windows. But two goons leaned out. At first I assumed they just had pistols. I leaned out the window to draw a bead, and that's when the one goon opened up with a bloody fire-spewing hand-cannon.


I ducked back into the car. "Great," I muttered. "Just my luck. The SOB's got a Tommy Gun."


Kate snorted. "Look at the bright side. He can't aim very well on full auto."


"That's a bright side?"

Another long burst of fire went wild into the air. Tires squealed as cars bootlegged around us, and the screams of bystanders rang out.

Kate jerked the wheel left, down a narrow alley, just as I pulled up to lean out again. I nearly toppled head-first out the window into a wall. My fedora flew off my head.
This was definitely turning into a bad day.

"Geez, Doll, watch it!" I said, and squeezed off a couple shots as the goon with the Thompson tried to reload. He ducked back into the car while his buddy returned fire.

Welcome to two-fisted adventure with the SIEGE engine!

Amazing Adventures, the newest core game powered by Troll Lord Games' celebrated SIEGE engine, allows you to create any type of pulp adventure hero you want, and customize them as you like! Be it arcane scholars, mentalists, tomb-raiding archaeologists, Asian martial arts masters, or gangsters and G-Men, this game has you covered. And best of all, if you're a fan of Castles & Crusades, you can pick this game up and get playing in a matter of minutes! Inside this book you'll find:

• Eight brand new character classes: Arcanist, Gadgeteer, Gumshoe, Hooligan, Mentalist, Pugilist, Raider, and Socialite
• Character customization options: Generic Class Abilities, Traits, Backgrounds, Fate Points, Pulp Costumes, Sanity rules, and more!
• A streamlined presentation of the SIEGE engine, which uses a single Challenge Base
• Rules for vehicular combat
• Guidelines on how to run a pulp game
• A complete Monster section with all kinds of pulp beasties from giant apes to Lovecraftian horrors
• A complete starting adventure for 4-6 new pulp heroes
• And tons more!

I think I am really going to enjoy this game.  It is in pre-order now (I happen to know for a fact the game is done) and there are some sweet pre-order incentives.

I also understand that it is 95% to 100% compatible with the C&C books you own right now.  So all those monster books I bought can now roam the streets of New York OR a pulp-inspired Greyhawk.  "The dame was from Urnst. My daddy always said never trust a dame from Urnst. But I don't have to trust her, just work for her." 

So please check it out and pre-order.
http://www.trolllord.com/cnc/aa_preorder.html

White Dwarf Wednesday...

Will be a touch delayed.

Have a bunch of things at work I need to do first and the long weekend threw me off.

Mary Pickford this Friday

This Friday I am participating in the Mary Pickford blogathon hosted over at Classic Movies.

http://www.aclassicmovieblog.com/2012/04/mary-pickford-blogathon-announcement.html
Please stop by all the bloggers participating and see what they have to say about this Hollywood Legend.

Now you might wonder what a silent screen star has to do with RPGs or Horror.  Well come back on Friday to find out how at least one of her films had a deep impact on a vast majority of my work.

Willow and Tara Digital Comics

I don't read the Buffy comics. No desire really, and the world I had created with the RPG was far more interesting to me anyway. 

But when Amber Benson and Christopher Golden team up to write a Willow & Tara based comic, well how can I possibly say no?

This month Dark Horse re-released the two (well three, two stories in three books) Willow & Tara comics.  Wanna Blessed Be and Wilderness. 

You can get them here:

Willow & Tara: Wanna Blessed Be

Willow & Tara: Wilderness

I enjoyed the heck out these and went ahead and bought them again in digital format.

I ran a Ghosts of Albion adventure loosely based on these, it seemed appropriate.  The adventure still needs some work, but I do like it.  And it has a pedigree. 

So here they are.  Thought you might like to check them out.

Now if someone would make a comic of the Dragon and the Phoenix I'd be thrilled to death! 

Marvel HRP links

Quick one today.
Found some links for various builds for the Marvel Heroic Roleplaying game.

The Lost of Files of Marvel is just link after link of tons of builds.
That 70's Game also has a few, but in particular are his build builds of Zatanna, Fire and Ice from the DC world.

And only quasi-related, Tim Marchman over at the Wall Street Journal wants to know why comics aren't doing better than they are.  Actually he has a pretty good idea.

New Basic Class, The Vampire

Want to playtest something for free?

Well I want you all to have a look at my new class for Basic Era Games and their Retro Clones.

The Vampire Class

Art copyright 2012 by Jason Rainville

This is a class/race combo for the system that also had Elf, Dwarf and Halfling as a class.

From the document:
"Vampires are among the most powerful of the Undead.  But unlike other undead, the vampire can retain a bit of their own humanity. Thus a vampire can also become an adventuring class much like that of an elf or dwarf.  A vampire character still retains their original soul, trapped inside an undead body full of dark necromantic power.  Eventually even the most pure of heart will succumb to the darkness of undeath."

This is a complete class 1st to 14th level, with additional notes to 20th level for exceptional characters.
All the vampiric powers and weaknesses are detailed to allow your vampire character plenty of options to grow.

There are few things I am testing out here.  First, whether or not the word will get out about this without much fanfare.  To test Dropbox as a delivery method. Also to test my class creation algorithms.

If you can please drop me a note here (what the hell, let's call it an Open Playtest) and let me know what system you used this with and how it worked.  As my regular playtesters will attest, I don't mind it when things get broken, as long as I know why.

So. Let me know your thoughts in the replies below.

I am looking forward to seeing how this class works for everyone!

Click here to download the PDF: The Vampire Class